CIRCLE WITH A DOT

@Fasgadh @Richard_Littler Unconscious exposure is still exposure, and as they say, there is no such thing as bad publicity (within reason).

Unless you're previously committed to not patronising a particular company for principled, political, philosophical, or religious reasons. But then, it depends on exactly how strongly you feel. And you could still be swayed, even then. The marketers just need to work harder to convince you, is all.

"I'll NEVER buy anything from Amazon!"

Well, fair enough, but by definition, that means that Amazon is always prominent in your mind. If they continue to do the things that made you detest them, you will continue to be adamant in your decision. But if they start doing things which make you think, "Hey, they might actually be turning around," they could still win you back. Or if all of your friends start telling you how awesome they are, maybe you start gaslighting yourself into thinking they can't actually be that bad. Or you really really want a product and the only place to get it is on Amazon....

And even if not, if you're truly so hell-bent on Amazon, you're going to tell all your friends how terrible and evil they are and how you're never going to buy from them. But that puts them top of your *friends'* minds, which makes them more likely to buy from Amazon, if they don't feel quite so strongly as you do.

It's all deeply rooted in psychology and human nature.

@Richard_Littler It's got to do with the rule-of-thumb that a person needs to be exposed to a message 7 times before they take action. So if you see an add for a product, even without sound, and even for a split second before deliberately turning your attention, that's 1.

If you're browsing the web and you catch a banner ad for the same product, that's 2.

Reading an article and the author mentions that product in passing (even in a negative light)? That's 3.

Driving along the highway and see a billboard for that product, even if you don't consciously take note of it? That's 4.

In the supermarket and see that product stacked on the shelf? That's 5 -- but you're not ready to buy, yet.

On your way home, you turn on the radio and catch an ad for that product, but by that time you're so sick of hearing about it that you change the channel immediately? That's 6.

Turn on the TV and watch a YouTube video, and your ad-blocker fails momentarily and you see an ad for that product? That's 7, even though you spend all your time waiting for the "Skip" button to become enabled.

Something happens in your life that means you urgently need something like that product? Now that particular product is the first and perhaps ONLY one that sticks in your mind, it's cheap enough, and you need a solution urgently, so what do you do? You go out and buy that product.

Yes. Yes, it works. And it works to the *benefit* of the consumer, too. At least, as a consumer, that's what I've often found.